Bud Werner Memorial Library would like to thank everyone in the community who helped make the Drepung Loseling monks’ visit to Library Hall such an overwhelming success. Clearly, the experience is one that will live in our collective hearts and imaginations for a long time to come — more than 9,000 visitors participated in the monks’ visit during six days.

It simply couldn’t have happened without the generosity of Mark Helle’s organizational prowess, Julie Green’s home, many chefs’ beautiful meals, early morning tea brewers at The Deep Steep, a stellar team of volunteers who guided the community through five complete sand paintings, the financial support of each of our donors, and the preschool teachers and camp counselors who introduced so many young minds to something foreign and new. We are especially grateful for the Steamboat Pilot & Today’s stories and daily photos that helped keep locals and visitors enthralled.

The list is too long to call out everyone individually in this space — and every single visitor added wonderful energy to the collective experience. Please know that our generous community is what made this possible — kind donations of cozy beds, warm meals, transportation, time at the community sand painting table. So many people had a hand in making the monks’ visit far more than just an art installation. The community exchange was mutually enriching for all of us. May the spirit of compassion that the monks created in our mandala sand painting live on in Yampa Valley forever.